EDITORIAL – Bring the public back into City council’s Code of Conduct process

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

A WHOLE LOT of investigating has been going on in City Hall, resulting from City council’s code of conduct regulations.

The City says 17 complaints have been made under the code of conduct, which outlines behavioural rules for the council. An excellent weekend news report by Kristen Holliday on Castanet lays out the status of the complaints since the code was implemented a few months ago.

Last August, council voted to amend the code to exclude the public from filing complaints, but not before several had already been submitted. Among the public complainants was former City councillor and current ArmchairMayor.ca columnist Denis Walsh, who acknowledged in a column on this website last August that he had submitted four of the six from the public.

Bronwen Scott, sometimes a guest columnist on ArmchairMayor.ca, has also complained about council actions, including the fact that councillors engaged in electronic discussions about the well-known March 17 manifesto complaining of Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson’s behaviour and his attempted changes to standing committees. She didn’t file a complaint under the code of conduct but has contended the e-mail discussions amounted to an undeclared meeting of council.

Castanet doesn’t detail the code of conduct complainants but it states that one of the resolved complaints was against Coun. Bill Sarai for comments he made in defence of City employees. One of Sarai’s relatives works for the City, and the investigator determined that he committed a “trivial” breach but it was “in good faith.”

Another decision involved Coun. Katie Neustaeter regarding her comments at a council meeting in regard to the March 17 council statement. The report said the complaint against her wasn’t frivolous but her comments didn’t amount to a breach.

Castanet says four complaints have been dismissed while others are still being studied. An interesting detail is that 11 of the 17 complaints have been submitted by members of council.

Are those complaints simply being channeled from the public through council members, or has the code of conduct become a vehicle for council members to complain about each other?

The code of conduct is an important document but it has to be used properly. The results so far, as reflected in the Castanet story, suggest public complaints are worthy of consideration.

A review of the criteria for complaints would seem in order, with the return of the public to the process a priority.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.